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Mahitala Diving Club |  |
World Class Walls an Divers, from neophytes to those who have dived all the world-famous spots, have nothing but praise for the reefs surrounding the small islands in Manado Bay. These are very steep, pristine coral walls. In good weather, visibility on Bunaken Island’s drop-offs is typically around 25 meters, very good for Indonesian waters. At some sites, and when the current is up, this can drop to 12 meters because of plankton. The reefs here are basically untouched. Little damage from fish bombing is visible, in part because the reefs are so steep, and drop off so near the shore. Nor have there been enough divers here to tear up the sites, although some Bunaken sites are looking a bit worn. In 1989, thanks to the efforts of Loky Herlambang, founder of Nusantara Diving Centre (NDC), the pioneering dive operator here, 75,265 hectares of underwater area around Bunaken, Manado Tua, Siladen, Montehage and Nain islands became a national marine reserve: Taman Nasional Laut Bunaken-Manado Tua. North Sulawesi and the islands in the Bunaken group face the Sulawesi Sea, which reaches more than 6 kilometers. Even on the short boat rides to the dive sites, one passes over more than a kilometer of watercovering a trench that separates the islands from the mainland. Nutrient-rich water from these depths sweeps across the islands' reefs. The variety of marine life here is excellent; the surfaces of the walls are crowded with hard and soft corals, whip corals, sponges, and clinging filter-feeders like crinoids and basket stars. Huge schools of pyramid butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys polylepsis) and black triggerfish (Odonus niger), and clouds of anthias swarm around the reef edge and the upper part of the wall. Sharks, schools of barracuda, rays, moray eels and sea snakes-particularly the black-and-grey banded colubrine sea snake (Laticauda colubrina)-are relatively common here. Beginners like the ease of the conditions. There is usually very little current, and the boats anchor right on the edge of the walls. Experts appreciate the fact that most operators keep groups small: four to seven people. The Bunaken-Manado Tua reserve features
some dozen-and-a-half dive sites. Most are concentrated
off the south and west coasts of Bunaken, a low,
crescent-shaped coral island completely surrounded by a
steep fringing reef. Adjacent Manado Tua-"Old
Manado"- is a volcano, a well-shaped cone reaching
822 meters. There other islands complete the group: tiny
Siladen, a stone’s throw northeast of Bunaken;
Montehage, the largest of t islands, north of Bunaken;
and Nain, a tiny island north of Montehage surrounded by
a large barrier reef. (See map) |
AT A GLANCE Manado Reef type: Steep coral walls |
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